July 2009 Archives

...there are forms to fill out!

In the last week, I've had the privilege to work on my cover art request and back copy blurb. (Is it still known as back copy for electronically published works?)

I do mean that it's a privilege, because my understanding was that the world of publishing firmly pushed the author's pie-stained fingers out of such important marketing elements. But I was given the opportunity to describe what I envisioned — and, a source of more wonder, what I didn't want — on my cover, and I was given the first go at my blurb.

On the other hand, it's also a terrifying experience, because I could ruin these things. There are people at publishing companies in charge of these matters for a reason. They know what works, just from sheer accumulated experience. And, judging from many a paperback's back copy, they're not as married as the author to things like, oh, say, accuracy to the plot if it'll get in the way of a great hook or smoldering character depiction. But most don't take it that far, and that distance is an advantage. After all, who wants to distill the awesomeness of her baby into a mere hundred words? Easier to do it with someone else's cherished one.

I browsed covers and blurbs to model my own upon until my eyes blurred. Then I thought upon it until my mind blurred. It's sobering to realize that the first impression of my book will be based upon these two things, and it's a matter of seconds to catch a reader's attention favorably. I could have the most exquisitely written story in the world, and no one would read it if it were presented in a dreary fashion.

And at the same, I don't want to catch the wrong reader's attention. It's great to lure someone into buying it, but I want that person to enjoy what he purchases. I decided to avoid using humor, for example, because the work in question is rather more somber in tone. So the challenge is being catchy while remaining true to the voice and tone of the story.

But beyond the terror, I'm excited to see things move forward. Filling out these forms are making the prospect of being published concrete, instead of the wispy dream that's been drifting around my head. Wispy dreams are pretty and all, but I bet my cover will be even prettier.

I find myself annoyed by short chapters. This may stem from my childhood, when my mother would find me reading past my bedtime and I would beg for an extension "just till the chapter ends" and then the chapter would end on the next page.

But it's incredibly disruptive to me when the last sentence of a chapter immediately hooks up to the first sentence of the next chapter, repeatedly. I understand the use of chapter breaks for occasional suspenseful pauses, but in the current book I'm reading, I've grown tired of dialogue being cut into parts by a chapter break.

L.E. Modesitt had astoundingly short chapters in some of his Recluse books — less than a page, at times — but I remember him using them as scenes more than chapters. There would be a change of perspective or setting whenever the next roman numeral popped up.

I would go re-read The Towers of the Sunset (Creslin was on what I labeled my "D" list, for "delectable"), except I think it's undergoing anti-silverfish treatment, between the peas and carrots and the cinnamon bread. A pity — how many stories do you know where the hero skis away from his arranged marriage?

I keep trying to write romantic sf rather than a sf romance. I think it's a consequence of knowing too many astrophysicists. I've stopped watching sf action flicks with them because they invariably get shushed every five minutes for outbursts about the lousy science, or they just howl with laughter the whole way through.

So although I'd never let said physicists within a ten-meter radius of my writing, I feel the need to make the science at least plausible. Else I can hear that laughter in my head. And there are so many dominos once you decide some piece of technology is available: other fields of tech which should be on par, societal changes, and, of course, the plot.

I spent days figuring out some of the futuristic aspects of one story, only to realize that I'd neglected the poor hero and heroine's relationship. As much as I've complained about books where the first glance between the two sets mercury a-risin' and pulses a-racin' having all the subtlety of safes a-fallin' on heads, this approach provides momentum for the characters. Once they've had a whiff of that kind of attraction, they're not going to calmly go through the rest of the story saving the world; they'll need to go rip each other's clothes off at some point. But if I let things happen more gradually, then apparently I am quite capable of letting any chemistry fade away in the urgency of external conflicts. Both require pacing.

So I'll just go rachet up the heat a bit, shall I?

I spent the weekend working on a new site design. I decided to go for something cleaner, and incorporate a couple of graphics while I was at it. It felt a bit like when I finally hung paintings on the walls of my apartment after three years of whiteness.

I can't tell you how many author websites I visited in order to decide how mine should be. Some impressed me favorably and others, hmm, didn't.

• forthright and up-to-date list of available works: Let me know what you've done so I can go find it, and in order, if I want more.
• free reads online: Even just excerpts. I like to see a sample of someone's writing style.
• clear navigation: Some authors do cram everything on the home page, but they shouldn't. There are probably other pages on your site that I'd like to be able to get to easily.
• clean, integrated layout: No random graphics, just a consistent appearance that gives your site its own brand. And readable.
• book covers in a small, reasonable size: They do catch the eye and offer an instant glimpse at the book's genre and mood. But don't fill the page with them; in the end I judge by the content.

• huge graphic of the author's name: Don't let this take up nearly all the space above the fold. Knowing your name is good, but I need to know more than that.
• nothing yet published, no excerpts, no vignettes, nothing: Give me some reason to believe you're a writer.
• animation or music: Distracting and annoying.
• clashing colors: Same as above, but visually.
• long list of links to author friends with nothing to distinguish them: If you have a link, make it clear why I should go there. If I don't know the author's name, I have no reason to look at her site. If they're really your friends or you really love their work, can't you spare a few words to persuade me?

I finally came up with a design that worked for my simple tastes, with some room to grow as I add more content, and it's been published. Moving the blog over to the new look is going to have to wait for another weekend, though.

Writing an author bio is no fun. Give it a few years (and some ego padding), and something like "The author of multiple award-winning books..." might be possible, but right now? Nothing so glamorous.

Reading other bios has revealed some trends:

• a passionate declaration of love for the written word
• a list of past jobs, ranging across a half-dozen industries
• an inventory of pets

None of these are going into my 50 words. I suppose I can cook up something more full-fledged to go on my site, if people are going to be curious. I think my problem is that I've been in too many corporate meetings where we go around the room and come up with "fun facts" about ourselves to share, and it's like school reunions in that you're never as cool as the next guy, who's the crossword champion of the world or who spent fourteen months traveling in twice as many countries...